My goodness I love Will Ferrell. He is deliciously cheeky, charming and stupid in the right mix! In this movie, which I am not going to give away, I will say this - it comes across as a stupid AJ-type movie, the type of movies I avoid like the plague - but is very very funny. There is no thinking involved, which, sometimes, is just the ticket.
That may've not made sense, but then, sometimes neither did the movie.
4/5 stars. Definitely worth watching again.
On another note, I have also seen "John Tucker Must Die". Not something I would've normally seen, but I was bored listless, and it was either this or "Material Girls", and I would've jumped thru the screen and killed the Duffmiesters within two minutes. Surprisingly, "John Tucker..." was actually very good, a regular teen fluff movie, but enjoyable indeed. Not in the same league as "Mean Girls" though, but then, what is these days.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Yes, finally, a football-related post...
Well. I never. Today is a sad day in the footballing world. Benfica lost, at home, to Manchester United. What an absolute disgrace! Considering last year, we kicked the bastards out of the Champions League at the group stage. This is no mean defeat, since for the last 20-odd years they had always passed the group stages. Yes, last season we did well, as we also slapped title-holders Liverpool out of the Champions League (something which tore at me, since I also support Liverpool. But I got over it. Benfica, being Portuguese, will always come first, no matter how badly they do). But we lost to the bastards this season AT HOME! Oh, the pain! But we much soldier on. We've still got 4 games left to turn it around, and, to the footballing Gods, please help us turn it around! Please make Manchester United lose! And let us reign victory as Champions League winners!
Yes. Well. I know that's a bit ambitious, so let me rephrase that. Please let us go through the group stage ahead of Man Yoo, and make them lose against FC Copenhagen.
In good news, at least our arch-enemy Porto lost too. That makes me feel slightly better.
And to those Cristiano Ronaldo bandwagoners (you know who you are) - a true supporter sticks by their players THRU THICK AND THIN!
Yes. Well. I know that's a bit ambitious, so let me rephrase that. Please let us go through the group stage ahead of Man Yoo, and make them lose against FC Copenhagen.
In good news, at least our arch-enemy Porto lost too. That makes me feel slightly better.
And to those Cristiano Ronaldo bandwagoners (you know who you are) - a true supporter sticks by their players THRU THICK AND THIN!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Customer Service Industry
Well. I can now fully appreciate why Receptionists in the hotel industry has the highest staff turnover rate for any job. Let me reveal the secret... BECAUSE PEOPLE ON HOLIDAY ARE RUDE! Yes, I have finally revealed the secret for all to see.
Example 1.
A bloke (I will not call him a gentleman because he is NOT) does seminars for companies all over the country. He is doing a seminar for a company in the NT, and is staying in my hotel, as well as conducting the seminar in the hotel's function room. So essentially he has yet to leave the hotel since checking in 5 days ago. He has proceeded to abuse the staff - and this is no simple shouting, it is full on screaming at the top of his lungs, profanities streaming out of his mouth and fist slamming on the bench, seriously intimidating stuff if he wasn't so irrational - for the stupidest things. Here is his list of complaints:
-Having to wait 5 minutes (yes, FIVE MINUTES) for the porter to get back from the other side of the hotel to lock the funtion room up.
-The hotel not providing an in-house laundry service so he doesn't have to wash his socks. We have guest laundries but, being a 4 star hotel and being in DARWIN, we like most other hotels in this city don't provide a laundry service. He abused me for 15 minutes because of this. We have never pretended to have anything but guest laundry. No other person has ever complained about this.
-The restuarant was booked out. Oh yes he did. Like we can control THAT.
-Our staff are extremely unhelpful. Its a little hard to offer help when he doesn't stop for breath to allow us to help. And frankly, why the hell would we help a prick like that? (Pardon my French).
-We don't take care of our business clients, we only cater for tourists. We have regular business clients from all over Australia, lawyers, accountants, etc staying with us all the time. There's a British GENTLEMAN with a black Amex card who stays with us all the time... you'd think with something like a $100,000 limit on the card he'd buy a house in Cullen Bay so he'd have a place to stay whenever he came here instead of staying in our modest hotel. I'm sure this gentleman washes his own bloody socks, he has even used the guest laundry!
-We, at the front desk, have not taken responsibility for what has gone wrong. After explaining to him thousands of times (literally) that front desk is not responsible for functions, the functions co-ordinator is, he shouts over us that we're not taking responsibility. Honestly, how can anyone reason with that? He was warned, continuously, by the front office manager, that he is not to abuse the staff like that. The third time he did it, the manager threatened to physically evict him. The general manager backed him up. He now passes front desk and does not even look at us. Bastard, thinks he can intimidate us.
Example 2.
Three british ladies are travelling together. They have had trouble with other hotels regarding their room arrangements - its all been twin not triple share. We can understand their gripe. Their agent had emailed us letting us know it was triple share, so we accommodated their request, in our best room. After talking down to me (why do I attract the psychos? why not the cute RAAF pilots?) and after I explained that the sofa beds were very comfortable (they are, I've tried them) they walked off. Five minutes later one of the ladies (I must single her out, the other two weren't too bad) was back complaining that the room was only made up for two people, and that we should've known better. We went and got towels, etc (she wanted three, not two towels like normal individuals want), and put them in her room. Two minutes later she was complaining that the sofa beds were wrinkled. She wanted a new room. Oh. My. God. They were fresh sheets, they were wrinkled because hey, its hard to keep sheets dead straight when they're folded.
Any suggestions for payback? No food is involved, so I can't spit in their meal.
Example 1.
A bloke (I will not call him a gentleman because he is NOT) does seminars for companies all over the country. He is doing a seminar for a company in the NT, and is staying in my hotel, as well as conducting the seminar in the hotel's function room. So essentially he has yet to leave the hotel since checking in 5 days ago. He has proceeded to abuse the staff - and this is no simple shouting, it is full on screaming at the top of his lungs, profanities streaming out of his mouth and fist slamming on the bench, seriously intimidating stuff if he wasn't so irrational - for the stupidest things. Here is his list of complaints:
-Having to wait 5 minutes (yes, FIVE MINUTES) for the porter to get back from the other side of the hotel to lock the funtion room up.
-The hotel not providing an in-house laundry service so he doesn't have to wash his socks. We have guest laundries but, being a 4 star hotel and being in DARWIN, we like most other hotels in this city don't provide a laundry service. He abused me for 15 minutes because of this. We have never pretended to have anything but guest laundry. No other person has ever complained about this.
-The restuarant was booked out. Oh yes he did. Like we can control THAT.
-Our staff are extremely unhelpful. Its a little hard to offer help when he doesn't stop for breath to allow us to help. And frankly, why the hell would we help a prick like that? (Pardon my French).
-We don't take care of our business clients, we only cater for tourists. We have regular business clients from all over Australia, lawyers, accountants, etc staying with us all the time. There's a British GENTLEMAN with a black Amex card who stays with us all the time... you'd think with something like a $100,000 limit on the card he'd buy a house in Cullen Bay so he'd have a place to stay whenever he came here instead of staying in our modest hotel. I'm sure this gentleman washes his own bloody socks, he has even used the guest laundry!
-We, at the front desk, have not taken responsibility for what has gone wrong. After explaining to him thousands of times (literally) that front desk is not responsible for functions, the functions co-ordinator is, he shouts over us that we're not taking responsibility. Honestly, how can anyone reason with that? He was warned, continuously, by the front office manager, that he is not to abuse the staff like that. The third time he did it, the manager threatened to physically evict him. The general manager backed him up. He now passes front desk and does not even look at us. Bastard, thinks he can intimidate us.
Example 2.
Three british ladies are travelling together. They have had trouble with other hotels regarding their room arrangements - its all been twin not triple share. We can understand their gripe. Their agent had emailed us letting us know it was triple share, so we accommodated their request, in our best room. After talking down to me (why do I attract the psychos? why not the cute RAAF pilots?) and after I explained that the sofa beds were very comfortable (they are, I've tried them) they walked off. Five minutes later one of the ladies (I must single her out, the other two weren't too bad) was back complaining that the room was only made up for two people, and that we should've known better. We went and got towels, etc (she wanted three, not two towels like normal individuals want), and put them in her room. Two minutes later she was complaining that the sofa beds were wrinkled. She wanted a new room. Oh. My. God. They were fresh sheets, they were wrinkled because hey, its hard to keep sheets dead straight when they're folded.
Any suggestions for payback? No food is involved, so I can't spit in their meal.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
New Feature: Movies/Websites
I have now added a new feature to my blog. Hooray! To those who know me they may not actually know this little fact about me: I love my football (soccer to the Aussies) and am a BIG movie buff. Gee, you don't say! So I've added the websites I frequent and up coming movies, along with links to the sites, that are a MUST SEE according to what I know about them. Every movie listed on there I haven't actually seen, and most haven't yet been released, but they are listed according to which are released first. The last movie, Harry Potter, will not be released until September next year, so there's still a 12 months wait on that. Here's an interesting fact you may not know about that movie: It took 25 takes for a kiss scene between the lead character, Harry Potter, and his on screen love interest Cho Chang. One wonders whether its Daniel Radcliffe or whoever the hell plays Cho Chang who can't kiss...
By the way I'm predicting Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby to be the sleepy hit of September... who can resist Will Ferrel's charms?
By the way I'm predicting Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby to be the sleepy hit of September... who can resist Will Ferrel's charms?
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Getting something off my chest...
Hello to all, and welcome to the random ramblings of an immigrant in the lucky country. Now I am technically an Australian Citizen, having lived here most of my life. OK, well, you could say pretty much ALL of my life since my family migrated here from Portugal when I was 8 months old in search of a "better life". But oddly enough, I love to point out that I wasn't actually born in Australia and I'm not sure why, even though I love this sunburnt country.
Now I'm sure this has been pointed out millions of times, but Australian's are uniquely Australian... No other country has a sense of humour like we do, although England comes mighty close. No other country puts their sporting heroes up there among the war heroes and politicians and such. No other country accepts the weird and wonderful as their own like we do, or backs the underdog each and every time. I love this country, its culture and its people, (almost) everything it stands for. I know more about Australia then about Portugal. Why then, is there always that hesitence when people ask "Are you Australian?"
The link to my ancestry is too strong to deny. Its at home when I speak to my parents, who cling on to their heritage. Its on the phone when I speak to my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. Its in the holiday planning, as money is always saved to "go back home". The memories of holidays spent there, like an extended home. The country's culture and history, remembered when East Timor is mentioned (Portugal's history including being at one time an empire bigger then Great Britain's, a discoverer of the new world like no other). Everytime I pass a coffee shop, a bakery, a paved street, remembering the centuries old paved streets in Portugal.
Yet at the same time I hesitate to call myself Portuguese. I'm not living in Portugal, and while I do know some of the happenings of the country (especially relating to the football team I support, SLBenfica, and to the national Portuguese squad), its not as much as I know about Australia.
I feel like I don't fully fit in here in Australia. Don't get me wrong, I have never experienced racism or felt unwelcome but I have always felt like I don't completely fit in. There has always been that something inside me that is still searching for my niche in life that isn't found in Australia. But when I'm in Portugal, its the same thing. Its comfortable staying there, surrounded by family, experiencing the rich history and culture that the country provides, all the things I love. Yet there's that darn something inside me that whispers this is not my niche, that still searches.
Will I ever find my niche? I don't know. Right now I'm torn between my two countries, my homeland and my adopted land. I guess I'll have to enjoy the best that both world offer, declare myself Portuguese-Australian (Portugal comes first by default - I was born there, there are currently no favourites) and hope that my niche is found soon.
Now I'm sure this has been pointed out millions of times, but Australian's are uniquely Australian... No other country has a sense of humour like we do, although England comes mighty close. No other country puts their sporting heroes up there among the war heroes and politicians and such. No other country accepts the weird and wonderful as their own like we do, or backs the underdog each and every time. I love this country, its culture and its people, (almost) everything it stands for. I know more about Australia then about Portugal. Why then, is there always that hesitence when people ask "Are you Australian?"
The link to my ancestry is too strong to deny. Its at home when I speak to my parents, who cling on to their heritage. Its on the phone when I speak to my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. Its in the holiday planning, as money is always saved to "go back home". The memories of holidays spent there, like an extended home. The country's culture and history, remembered when East Timor is mentioned (Portugal's history including being at one time an empire bigger then Great Britain's, a discoverer of the new world like no other). Everytime I pass a coffee shop, a bakery, a paved street, remembering the centuries old paved streets in Portugal.
Yet at the same time I hesitate to call myself Portuguese. I'm not living in Portugal, and while I do know some of the happenings of the country (especially relating to the football team I support, SLBenfica, and to the national Portuguese squad), its not as much as I know about Australia.
I feel like I don't fully fit in here in Australia. Don't get me wrong, I have never experienced racism or felt unwelcome but I have always felt like I don't completely fit in. There has always been that something inside me that is still searching for my niche in life that isn't found in Australia. But when I'm in Portugal, its the same thing. Its comfortable staying there, surrounded by family, experiencing the rich history and culture that the country provides, all the things I love. Yet there's that darn something inside me that whispers this is not my niche, that still searches.
Will I ever find my niche? I don't know. Right now I'm torn between my two countries, my homeland and my adopted land. I guess I'll have to enjoy the best that both world offer, declare myself Portuguese-Australian (Portugal comes first by default - I was born there, there are currently no favourites) and hope that my niche is found soon.
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